Huge Ajax's Arc

Chapter 614 of 619

The hold was full and the shelf was clean, but Ajax did not climb that day. The moon rose over the island, and Elara asked for the night. She was his healer, the woman who fought with light when light was needed, and lately every casting cost her more than she liked. She stood on the deck with her wristband turned up to the moon. "I'm nearly empty," she said. "If we climb tomorrow and something's up there, I want to be full for it." Ajax looked at the cliff, then at her. He gave her the night. Elara sat on the high rock through the dark hours. The band drank the moonlight the way dry ground drinks rain. Ajax posted Kael and Torren at the cliff cuts in case the beasts had kin. Neither man spoke much. Kael sharpened a knife by feel. Torren watched the water. "Nothing moving," Torren said once, flat, and went back to watching. Rowan came down from the rocks near dawn. He crouched by Ajax and kept his voice low. "No fresh tracks above," he said. "The dens are old. The two we killed were the last that fed here." He tipped his head at the cliff. "Path's clear to the top. Loose stone on the second cut. Nothing else." By first light Elara stood and shook the stiffness from her legs. Her eyes had their color back. "Full," she said. "It held all night. I didn't touch it." She showed Ajax the band. It caught the gray light and threw it back bright. Chalam came up the beach with his staff and his satchel. He had the three numbered vials and the lodestone dust for the seal. "When we reach the door," he said, "I read it first. Then your blood, then the blade. Same as before." He glanced up the cliff. "This one is older than your father's line. I want you close when I open it." Ajax gathered them at the base. Kael and Torren carried the driftwood torches, unlit now in the daylight. Rowan took point with his bow strung. Chalam came behind Ajax, Elara at his shoulder with her band charged. "We climb," Ajax said. "Rowan reads the way. Kael, Torren, hold the cuts if anything comes. Elara stays full until I say otherwise." They started up. The rock was cold and the second cut ran loose under Ajax's boots, just as Rowan had warned. He set his hands where the tracker set his and pulled himself over. Below him the Seraphine sat heavy in the water, hold half full, safe. Above him the seal waited at the top of the cliff, the door his father never touched. Ajax reached the ledge and stood. The stone gate rose in front of him, gray and sealed, marked with old cuts he did not know. Elara came up beside him, band bright. Chalam set his staff to the rock and began to read.